Castle Point (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency

Castle Point is a constituency^{[n 1]} in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Dame Rebecca Harris, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

Constituency profile

The seat is coterminous with the Castle Point local authority, taking its name from Hadleigh Castle and Canvey Point, and covering the Canvey Island at the seaside end of the Thames Estuary plus a segment of the adjoining mainland.

In 2001, Castle Point was characterised by skilled manual workers, commuters and the self-employed. Levels of home and car ownership in Hadleigh and Canvey were very high while social deprivation was relatively low.^[1]

Of all the constituencies of the UK, it has one of the lowest levels of graduates.^[2]

History

This seat was created for the 1983 general election from the former seat of South East Essex. It comprised the District of Castle Point which was formed from the former Urban Districts of Canvey Island and Benfleet and includes Canvey Island, Hadleigh, South Benfleet, and Thundersley.

In all but one election, it has been won by a Conservative candidate, passing to Labour once, in the 1997 election. The former MP defeated in 1997, Bob Spink, regained the seat in 2001. He was re-elected in 2005 but subsequently resigned from the Conservative Party on 22 April 2008. Spink briefly joined UKIP,^[3] but resigned the whip shortly afterwards and sat as an Independent MP.^[4] In the 2010 election, Spink lost in Castle Point to the Conservative candidate, Rebecca Harris.

At the 2017 election Castle Point had the largest Conservative majority, at 42.2%, of any constituency to have elected a Labour MP in the 1997–2010 government. This was increased even further, to 60.1%, at the 2019 election. In 2024, the Conservative vote was more than halved with Reform UK taking over 30%, reducing the majority to just 8%.

Boundaries

1983–2024

Since its creation in 1983 until the 2024 general election, the Castle Point constituency was contiguous with the boundaries of the district council of the same name. The seat is one of only a very few that were unchanged by the boundary reviews which came into effect in 1997 and 2010, having seen population growth in line with the average seat (which is slightly larger), including development in the designated development plans of the Thames Gateway.

Current

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was expanded slightly to meet the electorate size requirements, with the transfer in from South Basildon and East Thurrock of polling district DN of the Pitsea South East ward in the Borough of Basildon - equivalent to the civil parish of Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[6]^[7]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1983	Sir Bernard Braine	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1992	Bob Spink	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1997	Christine Butler	Labour
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2001	Bob Spink	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	April 2008		UKIP
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	November 2008		Independent
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2010	Rebecca Harris	Conservative

Elections

File:Castle Point Election Results.png

Castle Point election results 1983–2024